The popularity of women’s sport is growing and cricket is leading the way. The first female cricket match took place back in 1745 between the villages of Hambledon and Bramley. The sport has spread across the world and the International Women’s Cricket Council was formed in 1958. Fast forward to 2025 and women’s cricket is booming.
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Women’s Cricket World Cup
The first edition of the Women’s Cricket World Cup was played in 1973 and featured seven participants. Two of the participants were an International XI and a Young England team, the latter of which finished bottom of the group. The 2025 event, hosted by India, had eight teams and they were all countries, unlike the 1973 tournament. The record for tournament attendance was broken in 2025, with close to the 300,000 fans watching the games in stadiums across India. There were also just under 500 million watching live on television in India, which was another record.
Such was the success of the 2025 Women’s Cricket World Cup, the ICC plan to increase the number of teams to ten for the next tournament in 2029. The 2025 event was also notable for the number of people using the best betting sites to have a wager on women’s cricket. The number of people betting on women’s sports, including cricket, has grown in recent years.
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Southeast Asian and Olympic Games
In 2025, cricket was played for the first time at the Southeast Asian Games. This shows how the sport has developed across Southeast Asia, with Thailand being one of the major surprises. The Thailand women’s cricket team have risen to 11th place in the ICC Women’s One Day International rankings. There is no real history of cricket in Thailand and other nations, who have not been successful in the men’s game, are looking at the development of women’s cricket, with Germany and Brazil being two examples.
The announcement that cricket will be reintroduced to the Olympic Games in 2028 has been a huge boost to the women’s game. It will be a Twenty20 tournament and although the participating nations have yet to be decided, it is thought we will see at least one country from each of the five Olympic Ring areas. The United States are guaranteed a place in the women’s event as hosts. Olympic funding for women’s international teams will be a welcome financial injection and introduce more women to the sport in countries across the world.
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Emerging Nations Tournament
Another reason why 2025 has been such a good year for women’s cricket is the introduction of the Emerging Nations Trophy. The inaugural edition of the women’s competition was played between the 18th and 30th of November 2025 in Thailand. In addition to Thailand, Netherlands, Scotland, Papua New Guinea, United Arab Emirates, Namibia, Tanzania, and Uganda participated in the event. Thailand came out on top thanks to a superior net run rate in what was a highly competitive tournament that saw four teams finish with 5 wins each. With new nations emerging, a hugely success World Cup, and the expansion of international tournaments, women’s cricket continued to grow in 2025.
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